Dow Plummets Below 12K

The number of unemployment claims jumped to 429,000 last week, an unexpected rise that led the Dow Jones industrial average to fall below 12,000. Falling oil prices—they decreased 5% today—also drove US stocks lower, the AP reports. The Dow was down recently more than 215 points, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index was down 21 points and the Nasdaq had dropped 29 points. The rise in unemployment claims is the largest in four weeks. (More unemployment stories.)